ALASTAIR Sholl, 35, is a regulatory affairs manager for a major North West chemical firm.

ALASTAIR Sholl, 35, is a regulatory affairs manager for a major North West chemical firm. His wife Charlie, 33, is an inspector for the Environment Agency, based in Warrington.

The couple live near Liverpool Cricket Ground in Aigburth, south Liverpool, with 10-month old daughter, Jessica.

The responsibilities of parenthood mean that Alastair and Charlie take a long-term view of the issues they feel politicians need to address in Liverpool.

Education, the environment and community safety are high on their list of concerns as they think about who to support in tomorrow's local elections.

Alastair said: "One of the key questions for us is schools. Even though Jessica is still really young, you do have to plan ahead.

"In Liverpool, an awful lot of the best schools are Church schools. I don't want to get into the religious question, but provision in the secular sector is nowhere near as good unless you are prepared to pay for it privately. It's something which could even drive us away from Liverpool eventually.

"Looking at the council tax, I think it's all a question of balance. It's unrealistic to think we can improve services without having to pay a little extra sometimes. It's about getting value for money. The big fear is that sometimes money is wasted on loony schemes. There is certainly a lack of visibility of what the money is actually spent on."

With Aigburth Road, one of the main southern routes into the city centre, traffic and highways are also an important issue for the couple.

"They have recently resurfaced part of Aigburth Road and I think they've done quite a good job," said Alastair. "But the plan to build 250 new houses on the open space at Riverside College is just crazy.

"The extra traffic is going to be a real problem and it hasn't been thought through. It's also yet another open space that is going to be lost."

It's something that Charlie also feels strongly about.

"They really should start to regenerate other parts of the city before building on green land and taking away yet more play spaces and leisure facilities," she said.

The continuing lack of progress over the old Festival Gardens site at Otterspool is another source of frustration.

Alastair said: "There is a desperate need to do something with the Festival Gardens site. It should be a leisure facility for the whole community, not just some big hotel complex. When they come up with these grandiose schemes, I just despair." There is no doubt where the couple stand on the great Fourth Grace debate. "The Cloud idea is just appalling," said Alastair. "I can understand it needs to be modern and something the community can take part in, but its wrong that it won't fit in with the rest of the historic waterfront.

"We need to maintain our heritage and I am quite supportive of the Capital of Culture bid."

With Charlie working for the Environment Agency, it's perhaps no surprise that environmental issues also feature heavily on the couple's mind.

Charlie said: "Liverpool definitely needs more recycling - there is a real shortage of decent recycling facilities in the city and limited landfill space available."

Anti-social behaviour is perhaps the burning issue for many communities in Liverpool and even in leafy Aigburth there are problems.

Alastair said: "It is really frustrating to see smashed phone boxes and bus stops and to realise that valuable resources are being diverted away from important areas to pay for it."